A teenager who failed to appear in court despite numerous warnings, has been served with a banning order by a Teesside judge.

The interim anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) was brought against 19-year-old Carl Lee, whose address was given as Essex Street, Middlesbrough.

The order bans him from entering a total of nine roads around his former home in Wentworth Street and forbids him from gathering in a group of more than three people.

The teenager is also prevented from throwing or threatening to throw eggs, mud or stones, taking or driving a vehicle in a reckless manner or causing or attempting to cause criminal damage, under the interim ASBO which runs until midnight on March 4.

Council lawyer Jeanette Thompson told District Judge Martin Walker sitting at Teesside Magistrates Court how enforcement officers had made eight visits to two different addresses in a bid to tell Lee about the case.

But at both his parents' home in Warwick Street and his girlfriend's house in Essex Street, nobody knew his whereabouts.

Approving the order in Lee's absence and without any legal representation for the teenager, the judge accepted that every possible step had been taken to ensure the defendant knew about the hearing.

But despite winning the interim ASBO, the order still has to be served against Lee by either police or council officers, before it can take affect.

Speaking outside the court enforcement officer Rachel Beard said: "It has been very difficult to serve papers on Carl Lee - we have no powers to enter a property and if we are told someone doesn't live there we have to take their word for it.

"If someone doesn't turn up, it is the judge's discretion as to how they handle it."

Describing the impact of Lee's behaviour, Mrs Beard added: "A gang of people around this area, including Carl Lee, has been prominent since the summer of 2002."

For an archive of stories on this subject click on to: icTeesside.co.uk/antisocialbehaviour